Aerogel: Adsorption Notes
Week #28: What Affects The Purifier During Adsorption
Preface! ✨
Hello everyone!
My intentions for writing these articles are:
- Explain technical information about aerogels in simple terms (to the public)
- Store information and habits for my future self and others (in <7 minutes)
Coolio? Sweet. Enjoy the series :-)
Adsorption Mechanics 101 📈
We analyzed the predictions for the aerogel’s adsorption mechanics.
This is important because it determines…
- Quantity of heavy metal ions the aerogel can adsorb
- How fast it adsorbs heavy metal ions
- An effective percentage
Let’s start with the adsorption equation… I promise no math.
Adsorption is measured via the percentage of metal ions adsorbed by the material.
C(i) → Initial solution concentration of the water in millimoles (mM)
C(f) → Final solution concentration of the water in millimoles (mM)
Let’s do a brief example… and I will use simple math.
The initial concentration is 100% heavy metal ions in 100 mL water.
The final concentration is 10% heavy metal ions in 100 mL water.
C(i) → 100%
C(f) → 10%
The equation above is [ C(i) -) C(f) / C(i) ] × 100
The equation is [ (100 - 10) / 100 ] × 100
This equals [ 90 / 100 ] × 100
This equals [ 0.9 / 100 ]
The final adsorption rate is 90%.
But what determines how much and how fast the aerogel can remove heavy metals from water?
Metal Ion Concentration Effects 🔨
Aquaperla targets toxic heavy metal ions.
Some examples include lead, copper, and nickel.
There are possibilities for what could happen when the material is placed into a solution with lead.
Here is what we found from the conversations and documents:
Heavy metal ion uptake goes from 0.1 mmol/L to 10 mmol/L at constant solution volume and adsorbents dosage.
But the adsorbent uptake slows down after 2 mmol/L because active adsorption sites (anionic groups) on the aerogel are blocked with heavy metal ions.
The material doesn’t have more space to hold toxic metal ions.
This also leads to another conclusion:
Aquaperla mentioned that the pH must be over 3.5 for metal ion adsorption. Here is the article.
During adsorption, the first 60 minutes will be the fastest adsorption of heavy metal ions.
Why?
More adsorption sites are available for the metal ions to attach to the material.
It’s like a hot dog stand and a football game.
The first starving fanatics will eat the hot dogs first.
Everyone else must wait in line.
Final Thoughts 💭
Time to build momentum on funding.
If there is something that has allowed my team to remain a family, it is…
Persistence.
We could have allow the vision, the story, the struggles to knock us out.
But NO.
Do not tolerate this fate.
If you play games that require a decade-vision, patience, and low arrogance, we will win…
And you’re approaching the end of the wait. 💡
Adsorption Is Revised. ✔️
© 2023 by Carlos Manuel Jarquín Sánchez. All Rights Reserved.
